Murray rues missed opportunities

Andy Murray felt his inability to capitalise on the chances which came his way were instrumental in his Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic.

PUBLISHED: 07:16, Mon, Jan 28, 2013

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Andy Murray has now lost three Australian Open finals (AP) [PA]

The Scot's biggest opportunity to hammer home his advantage came when he earned three break points at the start of the second set, having edged the first on a tie-break. But Djokovic upped the ante to escape immediate danger. He then took the set on another breaker before running through the third and fourth to complete a 6-7 (2/7) 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 6-2 victory.

"At this level it can come down to a few points here and there," said Murray. "My biggest chance probably came at the start of the second set but I didn't quite take it. When Novak had his chance at the end of the third he got his."

Murray also had chances in the fourth set.

"I was getting quite a few 0-15s, 15-30s, 0-30s but I couldn't quite capitalise on my chances on his serve," he said. "That was the disappointing part. And when you go two sets to one down, you know you really need to get off to a good start at the beginning of the fourth because when the top guys get a lead and momentum it's very hard to stop them."

A final which was absorbing without being a classic was dominated by serve for the first two sets.

Djokovic had the openings in the first without converting and Murray made him pay by winning the tie-break.

It was role reversal in the second as Murray wasted that triple chance for an early break and Djokovic held on for a tie-break he won, thanks largely to a Murray double-fault at 2-2.

He put his first serve into the net and was shaping up to deliver the second when he noticed a feather dropping on to the court out of the corner of his eye. Having removed it, he promptly put the second serve long.

"I could have served," he explained. "But it just caught my eye before. I thought it was a good idea to move it. Maybe it wasn't."